Back to the Writing

by Veronica Louis

One year ago, I embarked on the difficult adventure of completely rewriting my novel’s manuscript after I realized (not without the help of my writing group) that the material was lacking.

After a sufficient amount of grieving, I was once again refreshed and ready to start over. This second time around, the writing process was fun, light and flowed. Albeit, the rewriting/editing process of the second draft was slow and gradual.

Yet, I had found my rhythm: write… first rewrites, group feedback, second rewrites. And I pushed repeat for every chapter. I was so close to the end, when life got in the way, and not only obstructed my writing rhythm, but obliterated it. Unless I dealt with the skeletons, I would be blocked, and any attempt to write would become a guilt-ridden session. And so I pushed pause, while being afraid that the momentum I had gained would be lost.

And so I dealt, completely cleared my closet, and was once again ready to push play. And with no qualms in mind I was so excited to get back to writing on a regular basis to finally complete what I had started. I never thought this project would take me this long, but I’ve come to accept that as long as I keep on playing, the end will come.

Life is never without lessons. While I had felt bad that my writing froze for a while, I realized that having that time away from the project actually reinvigorated the process. I could better conceptualize the tweaks and changes which must be made to better the project.

And the old principle stands true… every situation in life may in fact be an opportunity, it is our perspective that must first change.